Appraisal of the Marine Fisheries of West Bengal

The state of West Bengal is situated between the latitudes 21.5CN and 24.5°N and the longitudes 86CE and 89°E. Its location is in the northern part of Bay of Bengal; between the state of Orissa in the south and Bangladesh in the east. West Bengal, with an area of 87,853 sq. km accounts for 2.6% of the geographical area of India. For administrative purposes, the state is divided into 3 Divisions : Burdwam Division, Presidency Division and Jalpaiguri Division. Within each division the districts form administrative units. There are 16 districts of which two are coastal. The coastal districts are Midnapore and 24 Parganas. These together have a coastline of 65.0 km, forming 1.0% of the coastline of India